1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid-droplet jetting head which jets liquid droplets from nozzles and a liquid-droplet jetting apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet head disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-119269 (FIG. 1) corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,341 includes a channel forming base member inside which pressure chambers are formed, a nozzle plate which is joined to the channel forming base member and in which nozzles which communicate with the pressure chambers and jet ink in the pressure chambers are formed, and a manifold block which is joined to a face of the nozzle plate on a side opposite to a face joined to the channel forming base member, namely, an ink jetting surface and in which a manifold which retains liquid to be supplied to the pressure chambers is formed, and communication holes for allowing communication of the manifold and the pressure chambers are formed in the nozzle plate. Note that a face of the manifold block which is connected to the ink jetting surface is a face perpendicular to the ink jetting surface. Then, when pressure variation is applied to the ink in the pressure chambers by a piezoelectric actuator arranged on a side opposite to the side on which the nozzle plate of the channel forming base member is joined, ink is jetted from the nozzles.
Here, in the ink-jet head, when there is ink adhering to the vicinity of the nozzles of the ink jetting surface, displacement in jetting direction of ink or the like occurs due to wetting, which may cause decrease in printing quality and/or reliability. Also, there may be dust and/or dirt adhering to the vicinity of the nozzles, and when there is ink or dust adhering, cleaning of the vicinity of the nozzles is required. The liquid-droplet jetting apparatus has a wiper made of rubber, and the ink or dirt adhering to the ink jetting surface is wiped off by the wiper. When the vicinity of the nozzles is wiped excessively by the wiper, durability of the nozzle plate decreases. Accordingly, it is desirable to decrease the number of times of wiping by the wiper. Since the ink-jet head as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-119269 has the manifold block arranged on the ink jetting surface of the nozzle plate, when ink or dirt adhering to the vicinity of the nozzles is wiped off by the wiper, there occurs a problem such that the wiper is caught by a corner of the manifold block and hence the ink or dirt cannot be wiped off from the ink jetting surface. It is desirable not to depend on the wiper and to keep the ink jetting surface in a state that no ink or the like adheres thereto.